A Continuation Gone Too Far
by Suekeiichi Kaiton
Summary: Ten years after the Thirty Days of Fire the Sailor Senshi are gearing up for their meeting in old Edo. An Incomplete version of chapter 2 is now up. I'm looking for pre-readers as well. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

---Author's Notes---

This is a slightly edited version of the story posted on and St. Fan's Lemon Archive. The really lemony scene between Nodoka and Ranma was really the worst offender – nothing else really needed to be changed. Also, please note my new email address and blog (.com) please send me ideas, criticism, or observations to either of the two locations. I might post the unedited version on my blog as well.

---Title---

A Continuation Gone Too Far  
A Ranma 1/2 - Mega crossover Lemon  
By Suekeiichi Kaiton  
()

---Kyoto---

Usagi Tsukino left the Shochiku Studios building at half-past twelve in the afternoon; the entire country effectively shutting down for the next two weeks for the Remembrance Day celebration and the Weeks of Atonement. The country was alive and abuzz with the ten-year anniversary of Japan's victory over the foreign aggressors just around the corner. Children were playing in the streets or walking home with their parents, which brought a wistful smile to the sailor warrior's face.

Her own child had returned to the future nearly a decade ago and, if her relationship with Mamoru was any indication, chances were good that she'd ceased to exist shortly thereafter. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she raised a woolen mitten to her face to brush the droplets out of her lashes. It was November 23rd and the first snowfall had hit the previous week. It did look like it was going to be a white Christmas. The Diet was in recess so no one was loitering about the memorial pavilion. The pavilion was built in honor of the men sitting on the disastrous Diet of 1990. She took the chance to sit down on the edge of the fountain in its centre and look out on the sprawling megalopolis.

Kyoto was beautiful that time of year and the Imperial palace was already decorated and lit with white lights for Remembrance Day. She desperately wished she'd be able to tour the Palace but if everyone was going to meet in Edo she'd never make it back in time. The dragons on the roof of the palace faced west, indicating that the Emperor was not present. He was very seldom seen or photographed since his ascension except when the Empress died, poisoned by sleeper agents of the Chinese. The general public's image of their leader was actually over a decade old.

It was Sunday and the holiday fell on Tuesday so usage had a day to herself assuming she caught the train bound for Edo from Kyoto trans-linear rail station at six. She'd be on a train and walking all around tomorrow with little to no time for shopping for other such touristy things. Chimes rang out all around her, the melody for one in the afternoon drifting through the city, and the skyscrapers all across the horizon shifted their solar panel to accommodate the changing position of the sun. She hadn't realized it was so late! She'd been sitting in the 1990 Park for a half an hour!

Time had been kind to Usagi and in fact all of the Senshi, as if replaying them for the pain and sacrifice they'd endured almost a decade ago. Once the faint rumblings had settled around the new government and rebuilding began they had all found jobs in various fields either working at what they really wanted to do or placing themselves in advantageous positions for the future. Usagi, Minako, Michiru, Haruka, Rei, and Hotaru all followed their hearts and pursued their dreams for their own sake, heedless of how it would or would not fit into their roles in the coming Neo Silver Millennium. Setsuna, Ami, and Makoto of all people chose fields that would place them in close proximity to the new ruling government or within easy reach of the newest technical innovations.

Usagi and Minako worked in the entertainment industry as an actress and model respectively. Usagi did do some modeling on the side but usually for her studio and, while she wasn't all that famous, she was generally well liked. She played a recurring character in a daytime soap opera. Minako, on the other hand, was a fashion model. She'd been in Paris briefly before being politely told that she lacked the innate height needed for worldwide modeling. Returning home she threw herself into her career and quickly became the hottest cover girl in the country. She'd told Usagi and the rest of the Senshi that her agent had even received a call from a designer in Paris to model in the spring.

Michiru, Haruka, Rei, and Hotaru continued to do what they loved before the great shift of becoming Sailor Senshi. Michiru painted and played in minor concerts while Haruka raced, each one perfectly happy doing what was comfortable. Rei had salvaged what remained of her family's temple out of the ruins of Tokyo after the Thirty Days of Fire and moved out to Kyoto. She'd applied for a permit from the department of cultural preservation and opened a temple on an appropriately sakura-lined hill in the suburbs. Hotaru had gone off to college in America to study English literature and become a teacher.

Makoto and Setsuna worked for the government. Usagi could imagine Setsuna fitting in well with bureaucracy but Makoto never struck her as a political person. Still, they were both rather high up in the government although the secrecy of their positions made it hard to keep in touch, especially with Usagi's shooting schedule. Ami, however, kept in fairly close touch even though she worked in Edo, formally Tokyo, as head of N-T Heavy Industries First R&D Division. She'd said that working to upgrade modern technology would make it easier to adapt once the Freeze had passed. Frankly, Usagi didn't understand what the hell she was talking about but she supported her friend as best she could.

As for Mamoru, the errant consort of Neo Queen Serenity, he was off in America where he'd been gallivanting around for the past ten years. He sent letters every now and then but Usagi knew his heart wasn't in their relationship, at least not anymore. IT was all right she supposed; she wasn't into him anymore and the amount of time they spent separated only intensified the sense of betrayal she'd felt from him before Galaxia. She'd talked with Luna about it and the cat had cryptically answered that whomever she married would become King of Earth. Not exactly the most cheery answer.

Her apartment was in one of the newer buildings so it used biometrics as a key. It saved the absent-minded woman the effort of worrying about losing a key, all she needed to do was let the security box scan her retina and sample her breath. She rode the elevator up to the sixth floor of the metallic grey complex and entered only to find Luna, in human form, typing on the computer.

The apartment was built around the living room where Usagi had her desk and computer. Off the main room was an open kitchen/dining room. The a hall leading from the entrance led to two guest rooms, a master bedroom, a toilet, and a modest bathroom. In all, the apartment fulfilled all her needs and those of her feline advisor. She hung up her coat on a rack beside the door and tossed her Agent-U cell phone on the hall table. "I'm home! How was your day, Luna?"

"I've been talking with Artemis and Pluto the entire day. Apparently a new threat had appeared that could shatter Crystal Tokyo!" The purple-haired humanoid was naked and hunched over the monitor. Usagi took a can of juice from the fridge and collapsed on the couch.

"Wow, Luna, you're taking this much better than usual," the blonde looked wistfully up at the ceiling, "I remember when you'd scream that 'you have to turn into Sailor Moon!' at the drop of a hat."

"The only reason I haven't started panicking yet is that the danger is still in flux!" The cat didn't look up from the computer while she spoke but paused long enough to eat a dried fish sausage piece from a bowl beside her. "The danger can be avoided so long as we step carefully."

"Better not take too long, Luna, or else I'll miss the train."

Luna turned and leapt from the desk chair, transforming in midair and landing on her twenty-five year old charge's head. She loomed upside-down in Usagi's face. "You, Princess, are not going anywhere until this threat has passed! Setsuna believes that the danger will pass so long as none of us, you included, go to the ruins of Tokyo. Apparently the flux will pass in a week, with tomorrow being the most dangerous day. You are not to leave Kyoto - is this understood?"

Usagi picked her councilor up by the scruff of the neck and tossed her on an armchair, the feline shifting back to human form in time to sit, not roll, onto the seat cushion. "I got you, Luna, I won't got to Edo, alright?"

The cat sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I already contacted the rest of the Senshi and they agreed to have your little party in Kyoto this year. Just think of it this way, Usagi-chan, now you can tour the Imperial Palace tomorrow before the party! Haven't you always wanted to go inside?"

"Great. I'd much rather tour the Imperial Palace museum of useless relics than spend the next three days in Edo shopping."

"That's the spirit, Usagi-chan!"

---The Prime Minister's Office---

"The next item, Minister, is the schedule for Remembrance Day and the Weeks of Atonement."

Nabiki Tendo groaned and let her head fall with a meaty thwack on the green felt blotter of her desk. It was not the most elegant reaction for the Prime Minister to give her assistant but since it was just the two of them she trusted that word wouldn't get around.

Makoto smiled at her boss' reaction and began listing the state activities she would have to attend.

"Must we go through this every bloody year?" It was beginning to snow outside with the forecast of a mother of a storm on the way. It would hit tomorrow or the day after. "I'm starting to think that Remembrance Day is just a day to annoy the bureaucrats."

"Well, ma'am, you were the one who suggested clearing three weeks for a national holiday - and it was a good idea at the time."

"Don't get started on me again, Makoto, just read the damn schedule so we can get out of here. I'm sure you're itching to get to Edo." Minister Tendo was familiar with her secretary's traditions.

"Actually, ma'am, my plans have been cancelled this year." Makoto was dressed in a maroon two-piece suit with cream shoes and shirt. Lightening bolt dangle earrings swung on either side of her head and her hair was pulled back into a braid and coiled and clipped to the back of her head. "We're going to meet in Kyoto this year."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I know how you liked to visit old Juuban."

"Much the same way you try to visit Nerima, ma'am?"

Nabiki's eyebrow twitched. "Just shut up and read the damn timetable."

Makoto smiled again, showing teeth this time, and looked down at her data pad. "Very well. First off: the Emperor wishes for you to join him in the residence this evening."

Nabiki rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"I thought you liked the Emperor."

Nabiki stood up and brushed off the front of her black suit. Two tall windows covered in one-way filter material broke the back of her office. The view was normal but an outside observer would only see smooth wall. Her company, Nippon-Tech, had developed the light reflectors and energy generators used in the building. "Listen, Makoto, it isn't that I don't like the Emperor, because I do - I even thought about marrying him after Sayoko died - but he tends to get on my nerves this time of year."

"But you've been with him on-and-off since Empress Sayoko died two years ago-"

"Shh! I don't want that becoming public knowledge!" It was bad enough that it had become public knowledge that the Prime Minister was sleeping with the widower Emperor, there were already whispers of favoritism in the Diet, the public definitely didn't need to know that the two most powerful members of their government had talked about marriage in the past. She didn't want that to happen, she wanted everyone to know what she knew, namely that she was simply the most fit person for the job after the Thirty Days of Fire, and that the peace and financial security of the country was due to her abilities and hers alone. "Anyway, tell Setsuna that I'll be at the palace by 7:30."

"Yes, ma'am." Makoto tapped the right side of her PDA a few times and scrolled down to Setsuna's avatar.

"And tell her I have a few private matters to discuss with the Emperor."

Makoto stopped tapping with her stylus and looked up, bewildered and confused. "But I though you just said the Emperor was annoying this time of year?"

"I don't see how that affects his abilities in bed, Makoto." Nabiki turned away from the view with a feral grin. Makoto matched the smile. She knew how hot their Emperor was; often speculating with Setsuna (his personal aid) on how he might feel between their thighs...

"You never stuck me as the type to kiss and tell, ma'am."

Nabiki rummaged in her top desk drawer for a moment before popping two pieces of nicotine gum in her mouth. "What's the point of doing something if you can't gloat about it?" She had robe N-T Heavy Industries into the global limelight and used her power and influence to drag Japan out of recession and into a state just below the US in terms of economic growth, market, and industry. With China all but destroyed at the end of the Thirty Days and Taiwan struggling to deal with their sudden growth and victory over the ghost of Mao, Japan settled in the South and entrenched themselves in the Middle Kingdom. Their prestige only grew after they freed Tibet and paid the remaining debt China owed. Her predecessor, Kenji Sawada, was good but she was in a whole different league. "There isn't anything planned after that, is there?"

"You are expected to visit the Masaki Shrine on Tuesday with the Emperor and other Lords and high-ranking officials."

"I expected that, is there anything new to this year's festivities?"

"Nothing. Oh! Your sister will be joining you for dinner at the palace."

"I see." Nabiki shut the shades on her windows and packed her briefcase. "Tell Setsuna I'll be at the palace in two hours. You can take the rest of the day off, Makoto, but I expect you to be a the palace bright and early tomorrow morning, we have to settle in and unpack." Nabiki shrugged on her coat and buzzed for her guards to come and escort her out of the building. "After that you can go and meet your friends, is that alright?"

The brown-haired Senshi of Thunder nodded. "Have a good night, ma'am."

Prime Minister Tendo stopped with her hand on the door handle and turned back to her personal aid with a sultry grin. "I will if the Emperor is in the mood."

---The Imperial Palace---

"Is that a message from Nabiki, Meiou-san?" Kasumi Ono (formally Tendo) was sitting in the east wing of the palace with her fifteen year old son Hiroshi. They were watching a movie with Setsuna as they often did when they visited, which was frequently, and each time they arrived Setsuna lost another year of her life. That afternoon was especially bad considering the imbalance she felt from the Time Gates. The green-haired Senshi of Time was seated in a plush armchair beside the couch, keeping an eye on the Tendos as she'd been told.

"Yes. She'll be joining us in about two hours." She didn't like the new threat that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and she didn't like that it was centred around Usagi. Even now she felt the potentiality of multiple futures wash over her senses - it was extremely unnerving.

She also found the eldest Tendo sister unnerving although for different reasons. Setsuna respected the Emperor, especially the way he'd handled the Thirty Days of Fire (or as it was called around the world 'The Thirty Day War'), and was even attracted to him - strongly - but she did realize that what he often did smacked of favoritism. The choice of Nabiki Tendo for Prime Minister was logical given her economic prowess and the fact that Nippon-Tech was the fifth largest business conglomerate in the world. The appointment of Kasumi Ono as Minister of Cultural Heritage affairs, however logical it may be, smacked of nepotism and there were rumors already running through the Diet that Prime Minister Tendo convinced the Emperor to appoint her sister to the position...in bed.

If the citizens of Japan were to discover that the Emperor was sleeping with the both of them there might be trouble, then again there had been a recent resurgence of absolute conviction and deification of the Emperor so perhaps the public would accept it. Setsuna would give her left arm to spend just one night in the Emperor's bed. It wasn't in the cards, though, he was the single most powerful man in the world now and there wasn't a country in the world that would attack them after the Battle of Tokyo.

Pluto sighed and watched the mother and son. When Crystal Tokyo was sure and the Great Freeze was over she'd find a strong man and screw him silly for the next hundred years - maybe have a few children.

---Downtown Kyoto, near the Imperial Palace---

Makoto Kino left he Prime Minister's building and waved goodbye to the security guards. They were nice boys, stupid but loyal to the Minister. She trusted them to perform their duties and play it smart. A heavy brown coat was wrapped around her against he lazy snowfall and her pumps crunched on the sidewalk as she walked down the street to Rei's. The winters were getting warmer and were finally beginning to return to normal length. The scientists gave no reason for the rash of harsh, long winters after the war but they agreed that the seasons would eventually return to normal. The cold really didn't bother her all that much; it gave her an excuse to cuddle up to someone. Of course she didn't have anyone to cuddle with at the moment but if she played her cards right tomorrow she might.

Makoto had just bought a slinky green silk dress with a low back down to the cleft of her buttocks, matching shoes and gloves. A diamond-studded choker with a hefty chunk of emerald in the middle completed the ensemble. Perhaps 'buy' was too misleading a term, she'd copied the imaged onto her disguise pen was the bitter truth. It was one of the perks of being a Senshi that she never needed to buy clothes, just take an image of the ensemble she wanted, use the pen, then hang it up when she was done. It was nice of Luna to point out the 'lock' switch.

She just had to catch the Emperor's eye and all her dreams would come true - she was certain of that. Each year she worked with minister Tendo gave her another chance to catch the handsome hunk of god that was the ruler of their country.

She swung into the Hino Temple's courtyard and saw Rei sweeping the snow off the cobblestones. The Senshi of Mars had grown her hair longer from their high school days and grown even taller, though perhaps not bustier, but her quick temper and poise certainly had not lessened. Now that mikos were considered national treasures under Minister Ono, Rei was well taken care of and virtually paid for nothing.

"Why won't you get a blower? It'd be faster and do a better job!"

The dark-haired woman turned with her bamboo broom clutched in her impeccably manicured hand. "I like doing this, it's very relaxing." Rei 'humphed' and continued her slow sweep. "Besides, if I'm a miko the temple can't use modern conveniences beyond heating, water, and electricity."

"Really?" The brown-haired woman sat on the steps. "That must really suck."

Rei stopped her sweeping and set the broom against a wooden support. "Not as much as you might think. What are you doing here so early? It isn't even three."

"The minister let me go home early, she had important business at the palace."

"I see." It was rather convenient that everyone seemed to work in proximity to the capitol. "I was just talking to Usagi a few minutes ago, apparently we're going to meet here tomorrow around six."

"Sounds great." That actually worked better, usually she would leave early Tuesday on the Okayama-bound redeye, arrive a the hotel around six in the morning, shower, eat, and be dressed by nine to meet Nabiki in the lobby for the state walking parade to the Masaki Shrine. "Is everyone showing up this year?"

"I think so, Hotaru's been back for a few months." The previous year Hotaru had been in America on an exchange program. The Japanese were moving out to other countries like they had shortly before WWI, learning the technologies, military strategies and cultures of countries and peoples all around the world. Nabiki had the idea to create a government-sponsored scholarship program to give their college students the chance to learn various disciplines from those peoples that knew them best. So far it was working, within the five years of her Minister ship the economy dragged itself out of its almost permanent recession and inflation raised the wages 50% across the board. The yen was now worth 75 to the American dollar. "Come on inside."

They entered through the reinforced sliding doors, actually metal and temperature-sensitive alloy disguised to look like wood and rice paper, and Makoto sat down on the couch in front of the television. Weather Break was on and promised that tomorrow, the eve of Remembrance Day, would be unseasonably warm at a brisk 2 degrees Celsius. The only good thing about tomorrow was going to be getting together again, catching up on old times. "Usagi have anything else to say?"

Rei re-entered dressed in khaki slacks and a deep red sweater with a tray of tea and cookies. She sat the tray down on the table and sat down across from her guest. "She said something about visiting the palace tomorrow."

"She got invited or what?" The Emperor often invited celebrities or up-and-coming actors and actresses to the palace for audiences before Remembrance Day.

"No, I think it was just for a tour." Her favorite soap opera was coming n and she'd missed yesterday's episode.

Makoto drank her tea and watched her friend lose herself in her soap. She really never understood how someone as intelligent as Rei could buy into the claptrap afternoon dramas. "She's lived in Kyoto for two years now and she never toured the palace? That's usually the first thing people try to do when they arrive!"

"Yeah, but they only open the palace to tours on Remembrance Day Eve, right?"

"You're right, although I don't know why, the palace is so big it's not like you'd just bump into the Emperor."

Rei ate another cookie and sipped her tea as the commercial break began. "Is the palace really all that interesting?"

Makoto yawned and snagged a cookie. Rei's cooking skills were definitely improving; she made a note to teach her friend a few sweet recipes. "It's like going to a museum, a lot of antiques, nothing all that interesting unless the Emperor's there." Makoto's eyes went glassy as she started thinking about their leader - the son of Ama-terasu-okami. He was the real deal, the descendant of the goddess herself.

Rei rolled her eyes at her friend's blank stare. "Is he really that attractive?"

"You don't know the half of it."

The soap opera returned from break and Makoto settled herself in for a boring forty minutes.

---The Next Morning---

Usagi awoke with a start and realized her alarm clock had broken sometime during the night. Luna was stretched out all over the bed with her torso pinning the blonde - lately the cat had the annoying tendency to switch forms during the night. Usagi grabbed a penny from the night table and hurled it with unerring accuracy at the gold crescent on the pale-skinned woman's forehead. It hit with the sound of pebbles on rock and the heavy body abruptly shrunk back to cat form. The future Queen of the solar system quickly extricated herself from the covers before her councilor could change back.

She stretched in her baby blue t-shirt and loosely-tied sweatpants. The sun was bright outside the window but offered no warmth, it was sure to be cold again, Usagi drew the bath and scrubbed clean; since she didn't have work for the rest of the week she could afford to pamper herself. She set the furo to Jacuzzi and poured a scoop of bath salts in the little agitating hatch beside the heating controls. Within moments the water was a deep green and gave off a perfumed scent of steam, lilac, and brine.

Usagi had been soaking for an hour reading magazines when Luna awoke. The moon councilor stood up on all fours and hopped off the disheveled sheets. The Senshi were going to meet later that day and hopefully Pluto would be able to tell them more details on the threat she saw yesterday. She transformed and sat down naked at the computer. There was a message from Setsuna.

'Luna, the threat seems to have passed. The localization appeared to be located in Edo; the images were of an enormous explosion and the Earth being sucked dry of energy. The premonitions indicated that danger was approaching the ruins of Tokyo from the West. The weather patterns over the last four years seem to be indicative of the Great Freeze. I think it best not to inform the Senshi about the Freeze until I have confirmed the weather patterns.'

Luna sighed and deleted the message. Another period of hibernation, it scared her to think of how painful the cold would be - how long would it take for them to fall asleep, how long would they have to endure the cold? She shuddered at the thought. Perhaps Ami would have some technology prepared to ease the transition to 200 years of sleep...

"Good morning, Luna." Usagi appeared in a nice pant/blouse combination.

Luna closed the application and turned around, reverting to cat form. "Good morning, Usagi-chan."

"I've got to get going in a few minutes, do you want anything at the store on the way home?" She grabbed a carb-bar from the cupboard and guzzled down a tall glass of milk.

"I'm fine." Luna jumped onto the tiled island countertop and tapped her saucer. After Usagi filled it with mile she spoke again, "so you're just going on a tour at twelve, right? You'll be home before you go over to Rei's right?"

"I'll be home by three." The blonde grabbed her coat and gloves from the hall and rushed out the door. It was just as cold as she thought. The streets were empty save a few housewives buying last minute items for the week. It wasn't like the stores were closed for the Weeks of Atonement, in fact, if you owned a market the government would pay you a tremendous bonus for staying open during the holiday.

The buses were still running, and would continue to until six that evening, and were free that day. Usagi pushed the stop button for the Imperial Palace. The trip from her apartment to the Palace gates took ten minutes, the streets ad sidewalks empty save debris and the lingering piles of the earlier snowfall. The government encouraged citizens to use the two-week holiday as a chance to visit family and used its powers to open the country to an economic vacation. Prices crashed down ridiculously low and voucher cards were used extensively as all banks were closed. Transportation ran from noon to six everyday and government controlled shelters took in the homeless.

The synthesized voice of the driver woke Usagi from her waking dream and she hustled out the doors, just barely avoiding an accident by holding onto the brushed-steel railing leading down the bus stairs. It was eleven forty-five and a large group of people already stood before the wide, ornate gates of the palace wall. No sooner had she stepped off the bus than the doors slowly began opening, sliding back layers of fallen snow in twin trails.

Soldiers locked and secured the gates before the guides invited the group inside. As the palace was only open to the public on Remembrance Day Eve the Emperor did not employ professional tour guides, instead the head servants conducted the walkthroughs. The groups, Usagi included, entered the palace gates and walked up the virgin snowfield to the grand foyer. The palace itself was a simple affair and traditional in terms of design, a two level main structure looking to be made of rock and lumber, with a seven level tower at the centre.

The entrance was a low, traditional-style foyer only several times larger with the twin racks of hangers set on either side and an adjacent room specifically set aside for shoes. The group removed their shoes and adopted guest slippers, then passed through a metal detector before entering the castle itself. Usagi breathed in a gasp at the length of the hall, all burnished wood beams and light wood floors shined until sparkling. The tour guide indicated that they would begin in the East Wing with the guest quarters.

The Queen-to-be soon discovered that the tour was very boring. The artifacts weren't all that interesting and the theme rooms appropriately traditional. She trailed behind the gates dividing each wing from the next guarded by servants in livery. A few older people were also dawdling behind the main body so she didn't feel conspicuous as she flitted from vase to painting to ornate mirror lining the long corridor.

---The Moon Room---

Setsuna jerked awake in her chair and looked around. She was in a sitting room gilded in gold crescent moons and stars. She smiled, remembering the day the Emperor asked her to design a guest room for herself. Here she sat in a dark blue painted room with wooden furniture stained dark ochre and red satin drapes. Four of Michiru's paintings were hung on the walls of the sitting room and an antique grandfather clock ticked hollowly beside the closed door leading to the bedroom. Another door on the opposite side led to the bathroom beside the door to the toilet. The Emperor was taking a long time in the bath.

She looked through the western door into the bedroom and saw the pile of clothes the Emperor left on the floor. She couldn't understand how the most powerful man in the world could be such a slob. She closed the door.

---The 'Common' Corridor---

Usagi was chatting with an older woman when the guide informed them that the Emperor's residence was ready to receive them. She started walking behind the rest of the group when she felt a strange tug in her senses like dull pinpricks up and down her spine. She noticed that one of the white doors was slightly ajar.

---The Moon Room---

Setsuna looked up, sensing that something was amiss. She was getting a numb feeling in her arms and legs, though that might've been due to the fact she was holding the Emperor's boxers in her hands.

---The Corridor---

Usagi walked over and took a peek inside. What she saw was enough to root her to the spot. Her stiff arm eased the door open and she shuffled inside. The door closed with a click.

The Moon Kingdom. The walls were painted midnight blue with gold boarders and trim. The furniture was all dark stained wood and glass. The carpet was plush like the warm blanket of darkness that embraced you on the moon and red drapes were crunched and bunched across the windows. She stood stock still, too surprised to do anything but gape. Paintings of the Moon Kingdom dotted the walls, one of the mile-long palace proper, glittering in starlight; another of the grand ball; and the last two depicting the princess and her love, a dark-haired tallish bishonen. Her heart came up in her throat. Gods, how she missed Mamoru, she missed being embraced and loved. What good was destiny if she couldn't have him?

She felt confused and lonely in the face of her future and past. Cold and shivering she wrapped her arms around herself and began to cry. Why was this in the Palace? Why did the Emperor know about the Moon Kingdom? Was he a throwback, a noble sent back by accident? She heard a door open to her left and turned just in time to see the Emperor, naked and steaming from the bath, walk out of the bathroom drying his hair.

Neither moved as the Emperor realized that the faun-like willowy blonde was certainly not his statuesque emerald-haired secretary. He paused in mid-scrub and let the towel fall to the floor. For a few moments all the pair did was stare at one another. His eyes noticed the small tear in the brown leather of her belt near the buckle, no doubt from extensive use, and the fact that she wore the pastel blue slippers of palace guests. She noticed his curious lack of hair on his chest ad briefly wondered if he shaved before noticing the thick, coarse hair around his genitals and underneath his arms. It was an odd thought but she indulged it - a tiny voice (sounding suspiciously like Luna) told her she just wanted a peek at his crotch - after all, it wasn't every day she saw the Emperor of Japan naked.

Then it struck her that she really was looking at the Emperor's manhood and that perhaps the best reaction was to scream. She screamed.

Setsuna was petting the pair of boxers like a cat with her eyes closed. She was imagining what the Emperor would be like in bed; naturally, would he be as powerful as he appeared in public? Would he be more timid? It probably wasn't the latter if the screams she'd often heard Nabiki and even Kasumi yell in the middle of the night. She shivered.

Then she heard the scream.

Her gun was out in an instant and she kicked the bedroom door off its hinges. The sigh that greeted her eyes wasn't even among the first thousand possibilities she'd entertained.

"Usagi-hime?!" She ran up too the hysterical blonde and grabbed her shoulders. "Usagi! What are you doing here?"

"Yes," the Emperor said a he picked up his towel, "what is she doing here?"

"Oh be quiet and get dressed already!" She hated to yell at the Emperor but sometimes he just didn't know when his presence was a hindrance in personal situations. "Usagi-chan, what are you doing here?"

The blonde abruptly stopped screaming and focused on the Sailor Senshi of Time. "I was just on the tour Setsuna, I didn't mean to come in and peek - I was just wondering why this room was in here."

Setsuna mentally kicked herself in the head. This stunk of temporal manipulation and the only times her future self didn't help were those they created for their sick personal jokes. "My god, I can't believe I didn't think of that before! I'm sorry, hime-sama, I didn't realize what I was doing."

Usagi blushed and fiddled with her fingers. "That's alright, Setsuna, but was that the real-"

"Yes." Setsuna thought that it was a vain hope for her princess _not_ to fall in lust with the Emperor. Every other woman he'd met had fallen prey to his charisma, why not the future rulers of the Solar System? For a joke from her future self this was awfully dangerous, very few women ever broke free from their infatuation, hell, she was one that couldn't. "That was he."

"So you really are his secretary?"

"Yes." She heard the rustling of cloth behind her and the crunch of Italian leather shoes on the wooden splinters of the bedroom door. She turned her head and saw her Emperor stepping out of the bedroom locking his cufflinks in place. The designs were gold dragons and his tie tack held the same motif. "Allow me to introduce Emperor Ranma Saotome."

Ranma stepped around the broken pieces of the doorway. He was dressed strangely for this day and age, Usagi thought idly. He was wearing a tightly cut black suit with black leather soft shoes, a stiff mandarin collar white shirt and a shimmering red silk vest with a similar dragon motif writhing on its surface. A deep blue cravat was tacked at his throat with dragon motifs in raised light blue, a hue that matched his eyes Usagi noted. He had his hands on the flat collar of his suit jacket and jerked it forward, bringing it taut against his collar. He wore thin white gloves. "Good afternoon."

Setsuna had her head down in defeat, it was clear that Usagi had already fallen for the Emperor and there was very little she could do in terms of damage control. "Emperor, may I present Usagi Tsukino."

"Princess Usagi Tsukino, you mean, don't you Setsuna?" Ranma stepped up to the leggy blonde and kissed her hand. "I heard you say 'Usagi-hime,' don't try to deny it."

"Your Highness I certainly did not1 I was simply-"

He turned to her suddenly, his crystal blue eyes piercing the normally unflappable Setsuna to the core, and glared. His eyes were glowing gold. "Shut up, Setsuna. I know what I heard and I know you don't misspeak - in all your years of service you've never misspoken - so why don't we cut the bullshit." He turned back to Usagi and saw confirmation in her frightened visage. "And what exactly are you princess of, Tsukino-san?"

"I...nothing, really, I'm princess of nothing." The blonde glanced away at one of Michiru's paintings. Ranma's eyes followed her gaze.

Revelation dawned on his face and an incredulous smile broke out on his face. He started to laugh heartily, deep true laughter tinged with irony, and he turned away to look back at Setsuna. She looked confused and, more shockingly, frightened. He smiled at her and sat down on the couch.

"I see now. So, Tsukino-san you are the infamous Sailor Moon, aren't you?"

The blonde's jaw dropped and she collapsed into a chair. Setsuna looked like she was going to pass out or wet herself or both. The Emperor was still chucking when he spoke again. "I've heard stories about you, you know, but I frankly didn't believe them. Now that I know this, Setsuna's taste in interior design makes sense." He gestured to the fixtures and paintings around them. "I should give you all medals."

Setsuna did faint at that and fell to the plush carpet. In a moment Ranma and Usagi were by her side. The Emperor carried her over to the sofa and covered her with his jacket, brushing back her green bangs tenderly.

"Is she going to be alright?" Usagi asked from over his shoulder.

"She'll be fine. She just fainted." He sat down in an armchair beside the sofa and gestured for Usagi to take the chair opposite. "I wasn't kidding about the medals you know."

Usagi was squeezing her hands in nervousness, her eyes darting from Ranma to Setsuna and finally to the door. "How did you know? About us I mean?"

The young Emperor smiled and reached around to tug twice on his pigtail. "I didn't really know until you just confirmed it, don't feel bad about letting me know, but I had noticed that something was odd with Setsuna's aura. When I saw yours combined with this dŽcor it was simple." He pointed to the Kaiou painting above the sofa. "The fact that you look exactly like the princess in the paintings didn't hurt."

"I see..." She felt foolish for thinking that an observant person couldn't see the similarity between her and Sailor Moon. "I have to ask you not to tell anyone about our identities."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what will you give me for my silence?" He crossed his legs and gazed at her with bedroom eyes. "Your body perhaps?"

Usagi looked down at the blue slippers on her feet and blushed. "If that's what it will take..."

Ranma leaned back in her chair and held out his hand. The future queen slowly stood up and crossed over to him. She looked into his eyes, blue to blue, and saw a spark of kindness or mirth hidden behind the smoky sensuality. She took his hand and gingerly sat down in his lap. She felt an electric shock when the seat of her pants met the smooth black of his suit. She could feel the bulge of his sex pressing against the inside of her thigh - he was not aroused. She nestled in his arms and prepared to give herself to Ranma, to the strange, handsome man who she'd only met barely fifteen minutes ago. Starting to lay her head down on his shoulder, she was stopped by a rough hand on her chin.

"I was only kidding you know...I wouldn't tell anyone about you."

"I wasn't kidding." She kissed him chastely on the cheek before uncurling herself from his lap and resuming her earlier seat. Ranma was rather glad the blonde hadn't tried to be demure about it, she was up front and personal about her attraction.

A cough interrupted their 'moment' as Setsuna alerted them to her state of consciousness. The green-haired woman sat up and pulled out her PDA, an 8 x 11 tablet from null space. Her Emperor watched her with a curious glance. She looked up at him. "You have two hours open this evening," she looked to Usagi, "is seven all right for you?"

Ranma decided to bit the bullet. "All right for what...er, Setsuna-chan?" The question was evident in Usagi's face as well.

"All right for you to FUCK HER!!" Pluto hurled the PDA across the room and turned on her employer with a snarl. "Listen your Highness, I've watched you screw half of the maids, the Prime Minister, both of the Prime Minister's sisters, and virtually the entire cabinet; I am not, however, going to stand by and watch you ruin nearly 200,000 years of work! You can fuck any of the other Senshi, or all of the other Senshi, you can screw all the women in Japan for all I care, but you are not having the Princess." She pointed to one of the oil paintings. "She is promised to someone else."

Ranma recovered quickly from her outburst. "I think Tsukino-san is capable of making her own decisions. What do you say?"

"I say that Emperor Saotome can take me out whenever he likes, Setsuna, sine Mamoru seems perfectly satisfied staying in America. If no one else wants me, which is the distinct impression I'm getting nowadays, I am free to make my own decisions!" Even Setsuna was cowering from the livid blonde. "Do I make myself clear?"

"...yes."

"Good." She turned back to the dashing ruler of her country. "I can't apologize enough for Setsuna's behavior."

Ranma laughed and pulled Setsuna into a one armed embrace, pressing her full chest against his side. She 'eep'ed quietly at the sudden intimate contact but melted under his fingers - after all, this had been what she'd wanted for the past five years. "Don't worry about it, Hime-sama, I've gotten used to Set-chan's outbursts."

"Thank you." Usagi was in full 'Queen' mode, poise erect and aristocratic, her posture exuding power and control, her body supple in the hard wood and embroidered red velvet chair. She crossed her legs imperiously and smiled seductively at her fellow ruler.

"-Setsuna? Tendo-san wants to know when the Emperor would - Usagi!!?!" Makoto swung into the room with her fingers tightly gripping the outside doorframe. She was dressed in a deep olive skirt and jacket with a silvery-cream blouse underneath. It was only after she walked into the room proper that she recognized the Emperor and Setsuna. "Your Highness." She vowed low.

"Good afternoon, Makoto. How are you and Nabiki settling in?" Ranma patted the mollified Setsuna's head like one would a favored cat. True to form, she preened at his touch.

"Just fine sir. Actually, Tendo-san was wondering if you had a moment free for her."

"Is this a matter of state?" It was code for their trysts.

"Yes, Highness."

"I see." Ranma squeezed one of Setsuna's firm ass cheeks and released her back to the sofa. "I'm sorry, Tsukino-san, but I have to speak with Prime Minister Tendo now. I would be honored it you would join me for dinner here at the palace tonight."

"I'm afraid that Setsuna Makoto, and I are going to be meeting friends this evening."

Ranma nodded. "I see." He paced across the small Oriental rug in the middle of the seating arrangement, his leather shoes scuffing the stiff weave of the fabric. He stopped, a smile widening across his face, and turned to look at the trio of Senshi. "I'd like to invite the Sailor Senshi and their advisors and friends to spend Remembrance Day, no, wait, the Weeks of Atonement at the Imperial Palace for the pleasure of the Emperor." The use of the adjective 'pleasure' was not lost on Setsuna who scowled, knowing that Minako would go nuts over the Emperor. "Setsuna, make sure the invitations are hand-delivered, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." Ranma smiled in farewell and bowed to his guests before strolling out of the room. After he left and the doors closed Setsuna turned to Usagi.

"Hime-sama, I have to advise you that this was not the best course of action to take. As much as I respect and admire the Emperor it is a matter of public knowledge that he is a notorious womanizer. To have all of the Senshi under the same roof as he could create jealous dissention between us."

"Are you speaking for yourself, Setsuna?" Usagi's glare was cold and flinty. "I don't think the Emperor is going to steal into our beds at night and ravish us, and I'm sure hat we van all take care of ourselves. We're big girls, Setsuna, we can handle a single man."

Setsuna realized Usagi was going to continue regardless and sighed. "Very well, Hime-sama, I'll have the guest quarters opened and ready for this afternoon."

"Good." Usagi turned on her wristwatch communicator and dialed Luna on the crown. "Luna? I've got a change of plans..."

---Nippon Airways Trans-Continental Flight 906---

The frantic screams of 'Yes!' and 'God don't stop!' and other such screams of encouragement rang from the bathroom. The two stewardesses flanking the door pasted strained smiles on their faces and pressed passengers to use the other restroom. The couple had been going at it for the past thirty minutes, they couldn't possibly continue for much longer.

The voices inside reached an ear splitting crescendo before falling silent. The stewardesses breathed sighs of relief and left their flanking positions. The plane was about to land anyway.

Inside. Mamoru Chiba relaxed against the hard sharpness of the toilet and felt his partner's body slump heavily against his chest. It'd been good for a fling and the bitch certainly was a good ride but he had other things to consider beyond his cock. Usagi. He hadn't seen or written to her in the past ten years but she was always in his thoughts. Or so he thought.

Truth was he really hadn't thought about her until he was asked to cover the Imperial Delegation Dinner at the Royal Palace. Returning to Japan meant leaving his adopted home of America and rekindling old flames. Sure, he'd fucked around with...how many women was it by now? Fifty? Sixty? Sure he'd fucked senators and fashion designers and politicians but it was all practice, right? He was just making sure Usagi was satisfied when they finally consummated their marriage. After all, he was the chosen consort for the Queen, right? He sure was...she'd have to take him back, she had to...

"Mmm...that was good, stranger." The dark-haired female curled up is body and kissed him forcefully on the lips. "What's your name?"

"Mamoru Chiba." He wasn't paying much attention to her. "What's yours?"

"Allison Mallik." She lifted herself off his flagging erection and gave the soft shaft a playful squeeze. "I think I've already met your little friend."

"Hmm." Usagi had to take him back, the future depended on it...

"So what do you do?" She wanted to know more about the tall handsome man she'd just fucked.

"I'm a reporter for the New York Times." He pulled a length of toilet paper off the roll and tried to wipe up the sticky mess all down his thighs. "How about you?"

"Me? I don't work." She stood up and took some paper for herself, wiping the drippings of his seed from her crotch and fitting her G-string snugly back in place. "Why're you going to Japan?"

"Business. I have to cover a story." Mamoru pulled up his pants and splashed a little water on his face. "Listen, it was nice doing this with you but I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment."

Allison grew dour. She knew she was being used but to have it flaunted in her face before his semen had even cooled was a few steps below acceptable. "Oh, I understand fully," she replied with feigned sweetness, "what story are you covering?"

"The Imperial celebrations for Remembrance Day." He cinched his tie up to the rounded point of his Adam's apple. Outside the captain was making an announcement that they were starting their approach and that passengers should fasten their seatbelts. "We'd better take our seats."

"Uh huh." Allison Mallik, favored daughter of Sir Arthur Holmwood Mallik, Knight of Queen Elizabeth the IV, buttoned her blouse and made sure that her panic button was still in the 'locked' position. Her skirt was pulled up and her hair smoothed back before Mamoru even had his shirt tucked in; she had a plan now. "It was a pleasure riding with you, Mamoru Chiba, see you."

No sooner had she shut the door than her cell phone was at her ear and the other end was ringing. She had plans for the dark-haired pretty boy who thought he could simply throw her away. "Connelly, it's me. Look up a 'Mamoru Chiba', Japanese, works for the New York Times. And ask Daddy when I have to be at the Embassy. Ask him if he can get me an invitation to the Remembrance Eve banquet this evening. No, I'm not trying to bag the Emperor, I just want an invite, all right? Good." She took her seat and clicked her safety harness on as the shuttle began descending back into the atmosphere.

She'd be damned if some cavalier pretty boy used her and tossed her aside.

---The Imperial Palace---

Ranma strolled through the corridors of the Imperial residence, watching the maids and servants running from room to room with clean sheets and pillows in preparation for the Weeks of Atonement. His own suite of rooms was at the centre of the palace, consisting of the top four levels of the central tower. Nabiki's rooms were in the VIP wing along with Kasumi's, although they usually slept in his bed or the ground and second floor suites of the tower. The third level belonged to Akane, his 'bound concubine' although for the holidays she usually moved into his apartments. He took out his PDA from his inside jacket pocket and sent a message to Setsuna that arrangements should be made to place the Senshi in the VIP wing.

He passed through the gate between the guest and VIP areas, nodding to the guards who bowed and burst through the doors to Nabiki's suite. He found the shorthaired brunette sitting casually in her bedroom, stripped down to her matching white lace bra and panties. Her legs were crossed and the barest hind of her soft, thick pubic curls peeked out between the almond-burnished tan of her thighs and the lacy crotch of her panties. He remembered she didn't have except for her armpits. It was Kasumi who like the baby's bottom smoothness of a shaved snatch. To date, Ranma dryly though that Kasumi was the only woman he'd bedded that shaved it all off, most just went for their bikini area. A few, Nabiki, Akane, and Ukyo didn't have at all, just trimmed.

"I've been waiting for you, Ranma. You've kept me waiting." She uncrossed and crossed her legs, nipping at a lacquered fingernail.

"I had to take a shower in the guest wing because of the tours." He removed his jacket and threw it over onto the well-used bed. "I had quite an interesting encounter. Did you know that Makoto and Setsuna were Sailor Senshi?"

"No." Frankly she didn't care, all that mattered was that he was here and ready for action. She needed it again - gods, she thought she was getting addicted to him and maybe she was - and she couldn't hold off any longer. "Were they spies trying t take command?"

"No. I think they were just working." He tore her bra off and threw it across the room. His erection pressed tightly against the fly of his pants, aching to be released and buried to the hilt inside her moist womanhood.

He grabbed her roughly and tossed her onto the bed. Pants and shirts that were laid out were thrown to the floor until she lay on her stomach. He unzipped his pants and tore off her panties, pressing three fingers insistently against her warm, wet, dripping opening. He fucked her roughly from behind, humping her into submission the ways he loved and holding her arms backward. Nabiki's cries grew louder and louder until she shrieked a harsh, guttural, insistent scream and passed out on the bed. Ranma calmed himself down and reluctantly realized he couldn't continue humping her unconscious body long enough to finish. He pulled out, still rigid as steel, and dressed again. His erection flagged after a while and he smoothed out the pleats of his pants.

He was surprised when Kasumi was standing at the entrance to the suite.

"Good afternoon, Ranma-sama." She knelt and touched her forehead to the floor. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course," he responded, "walk with me back to the Imperial wing. I'm going to visit Akane and check on her progress."

She rose and took his arm. She was dressed in an elegant cloisonne kimono with a wide white fur wrap. Gold ornaments hung and clinked from her hair as she walked and her make-up was suitably understated with just a hint of rouge and the barest darkening of eye shadow. She was recognized by most of the regular servants, who were by now used to her presence at the palace. Even though she and Nabiki maintained houses of their own, they spent the majority of their time at the palace.

"I appreciate your invitation to stay in the palace for the holiday but I cannot accept it, and I believe you know why." She was staring straight ahead.

"I'm afraid I don't, Kasumi-san." He grasped her hand through the thin silk of her kimono and felt how cold it was, chill and hard. "I believe you serve at the pleasure of the Emperor but I don't particularly want to force you to stay, of course."

She stopped and turned to face him, the hanging ornaments jingling with the abrupt movement. "Ranma-sama, I do want to stay, really, but I don't want to cause you any trouble."

"What kinds of trouble do you think you're going to cause me?" He placed his hands on her padded shoulders. "I'm the Emperor of Japan, the son of the Goddess herself! Why would having you around cause me any trouble?"

"Nabiki has been hearing rumors...grumblings in the Diet regarding your infidelity to the Empress Sayoko. The older delegates don't like you very much. I...I worry about you, Ranma-sama." She grasped his arms with her thin fingers and pressed herself to him, nestling her head against his collarbone. Her breath came smooth and hot against his cravat. "I really don't know what I would do if anything happened to you, I don't know what Hiroshi would do either, you know how he looks up to you..."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. All you have to do is stop worrying...nothing is going to happen. After all I'm the avatar of the Kami on Earth!" He pulled her away so that she could look in his eyes. Blue light flared in his sockets and brilliant white tear tracks bled out down his cheeks before the pupils abruptly shifted to gold. "You've got to learn to relax, Kasumi. This isn't like the old days in Nerima, you're not going to lose me."

She turned her head away ad pulled away from him. "I know, Ranma-sama, I know. It's just that I still remember those days when you and I would talk in the kitchen while I made dinner, or how you used to hide in my room when Akane was searching for you. You...you were my first, Ranma-sama, and I worry. I mean...I'm glad that we've stayed together through all of this and I'm glad you and Nabiki have worked out your differences but...but what you do now affects the entire nation! We can't afford to have instability, especially after so much work!" She was beginning to cry.

He held her again and ran his fingers through her hair. His shiatsu knowledge was put to use as he eased her anxiety and cleared her stormy mind. Her ki was in flux as well. Apparently his repair job the previous night hadn't taken so well.

"Don't worry. Please, Kasumi! I love you, and I love Nabiki, and I love Akane, and everyone else from the old days! I promise you that nothing will happen to me." He cupped her face in his hands and smiled warmly. The light faded from his eyes and they returned to their cobalt blue. He broke out into a full-blown smile and pulled her back, his hand squeezing her ass playfully and pressing his thigh between her legs. She gasped as his knee pressed against the twin bones of her pelvis, grinding the soft flesh against her pubic bone.

"You'll be all right, 'Sumi-chan. I'm having guests over for dinner tonight, why don't you and Nabiki join us? It'll be a private dinner after the government banquet so the time will be late but-"

"I'd...ah...be delighted to join you." She grunted as he raised his knee, lifting her off the ground so that only her toes scraped the tufted oriental runner in the corridor, and was panting when he set her down. "I'll make sure not to eat so much at the banquet."

Ranma chuckled and caressed her breasts through the thick fabric of her kimono. "I don't think you need to do that, 'Sumi-chan, I'd say you need to gain a little weight. You look a little thin." He stroked her arms and playfully pinched her sides, breaking the sexual tension of the moment as she giggled girlishly and stepped away. "Hiroshi said he'd be in the garden with the topiary designers, why don't you go and make sure he doesn't drive the gardeners nuts, hmm?"

The eldest Tendo sister laughed politely in her hand. "I think I'll do that. The government banquet starts at six, correct?"

"I'd be in the reception hall at five just to be safe." He waved her goodbye, patting her affectionately on the ass as she passed and continued towards the Imperial tower. The two guards at the dividing gate bowed low and opened the entrance to the inner courtyard for him. The air was cold as he passed under the covered wood path across the peaceful garden in the middle of the palace and he hastily passed through the grand entranceway of the tower guard wall. The soldiers on either side of the gate stood at attention, their rifles clattering loudly in the calm pall of the fallen snow. The sky was slate grey with the promise of more precipitation on the way.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." He dipped his head ever so slightly.

"Good afternoon, your Highness." The two soldiers were in their forties, hand-picked by Ranma for their combat skills and higher-ordered thinking. Career soldiers all, he was well aware that most of his royal guard had married maids or servants over the five years they'd been in existence. It was one of Nabiki's cleaver tactics, engineering love affairs within the palace to create structural loyalty to the palace grounds and the people inside. Ranma had no doubt that if there were an attack of any kind, the men guarding his tower residence would lay down their lives.

The tower was built to be a separate, self-sustaining entity from the rest of the palace. Using the latest geothermal drilling technology, N-T Industries had constructed seventeen levels of armory, barracks, life-support, and command centres below the tower, all reinforced with duralinium alloy. Given the extraterrestrial nature of the materials and the fact that Nabiki's company's involvement was a state secret he was sure that nothing Terran could break into his private fortress. The grounds were artificial, well not completely but were metal after a foot of cosmetic soil and plant life. He passed through the foyer, replacing his soft shoes for black slippers, and pressed the call button for the lift.

The capsule rose with a whisper and 'wooden' doors opened to a duralinium chamber. Stepping inside, he rose to the third floor in a second and stepped off. Sometimes with all the ultramodern amenities Nabiki introduced to the palace he wondered if he were losing his edge...

Akane was waiting for him. Given that she lived in the tower for most of the year and was not permitted to leave the tower grounds, she had very little clothing to move from the first and second floors. She was draped, not dressed, in a creamy blue ribbon stretched and folded to protect her modesty. The ribbon began as a loop around her neck before spilling down over her nipples, back to cross between her shoulder blades, down to belt her stomach, crossing again to conceal her crotch, up in the valley of her buttocks before looping once to secure itself and spilling down in twin tails. The overall presentation was sexy, near nude, but within the bounds of decency. She sat on the edge of a four-poster western bed, leaning back on her thin, twiggy arms, with a bright toothy smile smeared across her face.

At first she'd seen the forced house arrest to be as bad as imprisonment but the decade had mellowed her attitude and she simply accepted her situation. It was for her own good, even Sayoko had thought it the best course of action, and like many people it took fights, threats, and time to make her realize that. She'd been stubborn back then. She was stubborn now.

"Good afternoon, Ranma."

"Hello, Akane, are you settled in all right?" Sometimes looking at her made him want to cry. "Do you need anything?"

"No, no, Ranma, I'll be perfectly fine here." She nibbled on one of her long fingernails and regarded him with hooded eyes. He at once thought on how alike she and Nabiki were but her question broke his chain of thought. "Will you be joining me this evening?"

"That's actually what I came to talk about. We're having guests for dinner. They'll actually be staying for the entire holiday. I wanted to know if you wished to dine with them this evening?"

Akane crossed her legs. "I cannot see why not, Ranma, who are they and are you going to bed them?"

"They're the Sailor Senshi." He plucked a hair from the lapel of his suit. "It turns out Setsuna's a Senshi, how about that? I always knew there was something odd about her." He lay down on the bed beside her and pulled her down to cuddle at his side. She'd been a bit standoffish at first but within the first few years had turned into quite the fiery little lover. Not that she begged and pleaded for it like Nabiki, nor did she spring it on him unexpectedly like Kasumi, she simply liked having sex with him. He didn't think it was love; it was something more akin to duty - a pleasurable duty but still out of desire for his respect rather than passionate love - than the trysts with the Tendo sisters.

"You didn't answer my second question so I can assume you are going to try to bed them. Setsuna's wanted to be a concubine for the past ten years; I guess she's finally going to get the chance, hmm? Don't tell me you haven't thought about taking her in your office or bedroom. Unlike you, I accept the real reason you are so horny."

"Not this again." He twirled a few locks of her hair in his fingers. "I'm not high on ki, alright? This isn't some side-effect of the War, I'm just a naturally manly man...just ask my mom!"

Akane rolled onto his stomach and pulled her ribbon's tails free, letting her 'clothing' fall all around them. "Like I'm going to believe the words of a woman so desperate for sex that she comes onto her own son."

"She didn't come onto me, I was just drunk at the time and she had me blindfolded, it wasn't my fault!" He brushed back her dark bangs and started to massage his way down her back.

"Sure, you can explain away the first time but what about the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and the seventh, and-"

Ranma turned away and let his arms drop down to his sides. He never liked talking about his relationship with his mother. "All right, all right, I think I get the point!"

"-And the fact that she was sleeping in your bed this morning!" Akane always got pissed when he 'bonded' with his mother, like it was some weird taboo or something. Well, he supposed it actually was, but given the fact of his divine heritage, even if that was kind of a misleading situation if not an outright lie, and the fact that he hadn't even remembered her before she came back into his life, Ranma thought it was acceptable if not the right thing. "It was your seed spilling out of her too, I could smell it!"

"What do you want me to say? She really doesn't feel like my mother, all right? She just feels like another woman to me, another willing woman and I just get a little carried away..."

"You've got such a titanic Oedipal complex it's a wonder you can still function!"

"There you go again with the fucking 'Oedipal complex'! I didn't kill my Pop, all right? He was killed and I had nothing to do with it!"

Akane straddled him and started digging her nails into his forearms. "You're fucking your own mother, Ranma! Your cock is penetrating the same vagina you came out of thirty-odd years ago! This doesn't strike you as sick? This doesn't strike you as perverted?"

"I don't see what's so wrong with it compared to some of your tastes!" He pulled off his gloves behind her back.

"What?" Akane leaned down so her scowl burned into his eyes. "What exactly are you talking about!?"

Ranma smirked and grabbed her ass, pulling her cheeks apart before shoving his left middle finger into her anus. She screamed out in pleasure and shock, bucking up and nearly breaking his arms in the process. "Little miss ass-play is telling me I'm perverted? I'm not the one that likes their ass eaten out, or enemas, or zero-g intercourse."

"B-but-ah!" Ranma's finger silenced her sentence and reduced her to mewing in pleasure. "B-but I recall you liked it too-ah!" Ranma took one hand away from her ass and unzipped his fly. "Besides-oohh!-fetishes are entirely different than incest!"

Ranma continued to smirk and pulled his finger free from her ass. "Stop talking about my mother or I won't fuck you."

Akane was panting on his chest, her mind unable to form a coherent thought. "But...female...you like it...carpet munching..."

"Now that we're back to my personal perversions and not the familial ones I think a good fucking is in your future." He rolled over onto her and pulled her legs apart, exposing her dripping sex and puckered anus. Sliding his knees off the bed to the floor, Ranma pulled her to the edge of the bed and wrapped her limp legs around his head as he started eating her out. His tongue traced the inner curves of her folds and lightly dipped into her melting pot before flicking viciously over her throbbing clit. She screamed at the touch and grabbed handfuls of his hair.

He lapped quickly at her sex for a few minutes before dipping lower and licking her puckered rosebud. She mewed as his tongue traced the wrinkled skin and pushed lightly against the opening. Akane felt her sphincter tense deliciously as the tip of his thick muscle wiggled its way inside her opening. A great gout of mucus spat out of her cunt and splashed his nose and mouth while her fists threatened to yank out his hair. Ranma didn't particularly like indulging her anal fetish but he did like pleasuring her because she always made the most satisfying noises when she came; Nabiki moaned and giggled insanely, Kasumi outright screamed, and his mother simply moaned loudly and urged him on, so really it was Akane and any other tail he could bang that got him off aurally. He relished the sounds and thrashing she did when she came.

"Fuck my ass, Ranma, fuck my dirty ass right now!" Akane let go of his hair and clutched the sheets on the other side of the bed. He smirked and stood, bringing his raging hard-on to her crotch and rubbing it maddeningly against her cunt. She was overflowing at that point so he slathered his tool in her juices before lining himself up to her ass. Placing his hands on her hips and laying himself against her taut body, he thrust into her and buried himself in her rectum. "Oh, Kami!"

Akane stopped trying to speak as he started thrusting, opting instead to lie limply on the sweaty sheets and let her master fuck her ass. Orgasm after orgasm shuddered its way up her spine and she stopped seeing anything but bright spots until he was finished. Ranma's cock slid in and out of her anus like a greased piston and each time the flared, hard helmet of his manhood rubbed against the rough interior of her rectum she felt a flicker of pleasure built into a blinding storm in her crotch. Her pussy was spilling fluids at an alarming rate and she felt her mind starting to go fuzzy; Ranma was angry with her for bringing up his mother and their incestuous relationship and when he was angry he always, always, fucked her into unconsciousness.

Ranma's mind was a blur of guilt and anger. He knew what Akane had said earlier was true, he just didn't want to believe it. No, he did believe it, that was most of the problem. His mother just wasn't exactly all there, he'd known it before the war but the events of the war seemed to have increased Nodoka's obsessive desire for his manliness into incestuous territory. True, the first time she all but raped him by having a maid tie him to a chair and blindfold him, but the rest of their trysts were face to face with full knowledge of what they were doing. He was vaguely aware that Akane had passed out but continued to pump her tight ass for a few moments more before pulling out.

The problem was that up until just before the failed wedding and the events afterward he was unaware that he even had a mother. When she'd arrived he'd tried to love her as a son would but the bonding phase was over, all her felt for her was nervousness, fear, and a mild amount of physical attraction. Ranma reached for the box of tissues on Akane's nightstand and wiped his cock clean of her emissions. He supposed that his mother's desire to see him become a 'man among men' and her thinly veiled sexual interest in his life also contributed to their relationship. He was sure that she'd been planning on fucking him ever since they were reunited but hadn't due to societal propriety.

As he entered the lift and rose to the sixth floor he pondered whether seeing Genma's death during the war had somehow affected his mother's thinking. She was perfectly sane and rational if the battery of psychological tests Nabiki and Kasumi had arranged for her to undergo after their first tryst were correct; she just had screwed up priorities. The lift doors opened and he stepped into his living quarters, an entire floor of bedrooms, lounges, kitchens, and bathrooms. All the guests or officials or lovers he had installed in the tower all used the same area as a basic living area. The sixth floor was also where his bedroom was...he wondered if his mother had left yet....

He entered the bedroom and saw that Nodoka had in fact not left yet and was actually still naked and under the sheets. A tray laden with fruit and a pot of tea sat on his night table and his mother was sitting up on his western-style bed reading a copy of the Kama Sutra. The fact that her perfectly formed tits were just hanging before his eyes did nothing to dispel the arousal he hadn't released with Akane. She looked up from her reading at the sound of his footsteps and smiled.

"Good afternoon, Ranma-chan, is everything alright?" She plucked off her reading glasses and set them beside her teacup on the table. It did her heart good to see her manly son standing so imperiously in the doorway. Here was the ruler of her nation, a man who had virtually rebuilt the Japanese Empire in the past decade, her son - fulfilling all her dreams for him! She felt herself moisten under the sheets and folded her book with a used condom wrapper to mark her place. "I was thinking that it was about time to try out the Kama sutra again, I think I can make it through the first half of the book at least this year!"

Ranma took one look at his mother's beaming face and immediately felt guilty again.

Nodoka, sensing her manly son's reluctance to fuck his ever-loving mother, slid out from under the covers and stalked naked over to him. "What's troubling you, son? Surely you can't still be upset over our relationship?"

Ranma sighed and looked down at his mother's face, framed by the long locks of her auburn hair. "It's just Akane, she doesn't like it. I was just arguing with her downstairs."

Nodoka twirled around her son and pressed her bare chest to his back. "Akane doesn't come from a true Japanese upbringing, Ranma-chan, we can't expect her to understand the nuances of Japanese custom and thinking." Her hands began unbuttoning his vest and shirt. "She doesn't believe that you are who you say you are, her way of thinking can't accept that you are not flesh of my flesh, blood or my blood."

"I've heard this argument before, Mom, and it doesn't get any more convincing the more times I hear it..."

Her hands undressed him fully and wrapped around his waist. "You are no longer my son, Ranma, you mustn't call me 'Mom', call me 'Nodoka' or 'No-chan' we've been through this before!" Her admonishment was undercut by the feel of her fingers tracing the lines of his muscles down to his pubic hair. "You took the oath and showed the Diet what you are capable of! You cannot be judged by mere mortal ethics or societal strictures. You are free to do whatever you wish if it is within your power.

"My manly, manly, son. Your mortal mother is so proud of you! You've become everything I've ever wanted, Ranma, you've fulfilled a foolish old woman's desires!"

Ranma winced at her words and embraced her, feeling the muscles of her back and shoulders move under the thin sheath of her skin. Even pushing fifty, she looked like she was only in her mid thirties and her body was free of wrinkles and sag. He felt the press of her thick dark brown nipples on his chest, as big as his thumbs.

"Fuck this old woman, Ranma-chan! Fuck this old woman into her grave!"

And fuck her he did, viciously and brutally like she enjoyed. As they coupled he tried to ignore the harsh voice of disgust far in the back of his conscious thoughts that made every skin-on-skin contact between them disgusting. After nearly an hour of various positions he finally came in her clenching depths.

The Emperor lay back, exhausted and satiated, while she continued cleaning his loins of discharge. She had a thing about semen, he'd discovered, and wasn't surprised when she brought up the subject of bukkake. They'd tried it once but she'd declared the rest of the men unfit for relations given their watery ejaculate and less than stellar output.

Mommy's little boy really was all that she wanted.

Ranma decided to take a little nap and forgot to tell Nodoka that the Sailor Senshi were coming to dinner. Nodoka simply burped demurely in satisfaction and crossed to the shower room to wash the semen out of her hair. Once clean, she joined her son in bed, holding him to her breast as he slept.

---The Guest Wing---

"What are you talking about? Minako, Michiru, Haruka, and Hotaru are already here! We're waiting for you!" Rei was screaming into her communicator, ignoring the looks she was getting from her guests. "What kind of silly plan have you gotten us into now, Odango-atama?"

Usagi grimaced at Rei's tone, wondering just how she'd gotten into a screaming match, all she'd done was call Rei and ask her to pack a few weeks worth of clothes. Now her best friend was on the warpath. Setsuna was no help, she was just talking into her cell phone to...somebody; Usagi wasn't quite sure who. Makoto had run off earlier to check in with her boss and let her know what was going on.

"...that's right, I'll leave it up to your discretion." Setsuna closed her cell and rubbed her temples. "Are you still on the phone, Usagi?"

The blonde grinned sheepishly and offered her wrist. "Do you want to try?"

"-Moreover, none of us can afford to drop everything for three weeks, just 'cause you want to visit the Bahamas!" Back at the temple, Haruka, who was watching NASCAR on the international channel, winced at their host's tone as she jabbered on ad on into her communicator. Hotaru looked up from her magazine and hesitantly reached for a cookie from the plate on the table as if afraid the miko would rush in and tear off her fingers. "Are you listening to me, Odango-sama?"

Setsuna's face appeared on the communicator's 3 cm square screen. "Usagi apparently didn't explain the situation, Rei, the Emperor himself discovered that Usagi, Makoto, and myself are Sailor Senshi and wished to honor us for our valor and bravery."

"The Emperor?" Minako's face pushed out Rei's angry scowl. "The Emperor invited us? Do we get to meet him in person?"

Setsuna smiled, Minako could always be counted on to adhere to expectations. "Yes, you'll even dine with him, although he probably isn't exactly what you think."

Minako squealed with delight before Rei shoved her out of the frame. "C'mon Rei, let's go, let's go, let's go, can't we go?"

"Shut up," Rei yelled and the blonde faded into the background. "All right, all right, we'll go. What should we go?" The raven-haired woman clearly wasn't happy about the recent chain of events.

"Get everyone together and take your overnight bags, suitcase, anything you might need. Give me a buzz when you're ready." The Senshi of Time deactivated her communicator and turned to her princess. "Everything is ready, hime-sama, but I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea."

Usagi was sitting in a plush chair in the salon of the Moon Kingdom suite. "Don't worry, Setsuna, everything's going to be all right - I have a feeling that this is right." She fiddled with her communicator. "I've got to call Ami and let her know about the change in plans" The screen on her wrist flashed 'connecting' and presently an image of Ami appeared. "Hello, Ami-chan!"

"Is something wrong?" Ami adjusted her frameless glasses. Her face was a mask of concern.

"No, no, nothing like that. I just need to let you know that there's been a slight change of plans. We've been invited to stay at eh Imperial Palace."

The minute picture of the blue-haired girl whistled. "Setsuna has a lot of pull in the palace, huh?"

"No, no, Setsuna really didn't have anything to do with this - the Emperor invited us himself."

"But how did he-"

"He found out we're the Senshi, don't ask how yet 'cause I'll tell you when you arrive. Setsuna's going to teleport everyone here so I just need you to grab your bags.

"I really didn't ring much, certainly nothing fancy enough to wear at the palace."

"Don't worry, just grab your stuff and get to a bathroom or something."

Ami looked cautiously from side to side. Care was written all over her face. Usagi did feel kind of bad spilling this all in her friend's lap on such short notice. "Oh...okay. I'll be ready in a few minutes."

Usagi shut off her communicator and sat back in the plush seat. Setsuna had worry giving her the shakes. The suite doors clicked open and Makoto entered in her olive green business suit.

"The Prime Minister wanted me to warn you that the Emperor is extremely allergic to cats, so have Luna and Artemis transform before they arrive."

Setsuna stood up suddenly. "How does Minister Tendo know about this!?"

Makoto sat down in a chair opposite Usagi and crossed her legs, the soft scrape of her stockings audible in the room's silence. "Well I had to tell her, she is my boss, and she's pretty tight with the Emperor as you well know."

"Well, I suppose that's right...but I don't want the entire cabinet to know our identities." Setsuna began pacing, her high heels tapping intermittently on the carpet and wood floor. "It's bad enough the Emperor knows but...but..."

Usagi and Makoto exchanged a glance behind the statuesque emerald-haired woman's back. "Uh...you were saying, Setsuna-chan?"

Revelation swept over her with the strength of a herd of elephants high on crack deciding that a stroll through the city was in order. A headache started at the base of her skull and sent fiery tendrils behind her ears to the round depressions on either side of her temples. She'd make a fatal miscalculation, a fatal, foolish mistake!

The other two girls were completely unprepared for the stream of obscenities that poured from Pluto's mouth, nor were they ready for her to start hurling furniture. Taking cover behind the sofa, they waiting for their normally unflappable friend's tirade to end.

Setsuna realized that it her premonitions regarding the great threat actually said to stay away from the Emperor, not Edo! She'd just naturally assumed that the image of Ranma fending off winged creatures among the skyscrapers was to identify the location, rather than the man himself. True, none of the Senshi were on Earth during the Thirty Days of Fire (they were fighting Galaxia at that time), but all of them had seen the titanic battle on TV for several years. She was granted special privileges due to her position to view secret records and documents regarding the end of the Thirty Day War but she was aware the other Senshi were still in the dark. This was the Great Freeze! This was the bitter winter that would usher in the reality of Crystal Tokyo!

"How could I have been so stupid!" Setsuna grabbed a plush armchair and hurled it against the wall. She sunk to her knees and began to cry. All her hard work, all her hardships had been nullified by a single bad interpretation!

Usagi and Makoto poked their heads out from behind the couch, watching their friend break down in the middle of the room. The blonde was the first to move, falling in beside the crumpled Senshi and wrapping her in a tight embrace. "It's okay, Setsuna, really, everything's going to be all right."

"No it won't, Hime-sama, I've just destroyed all we've worked for...all our battles have been for naught!" She held onto her Queen desperately, soaking Usagi's shoulder in tears. "I've been a fool!"

"What have you done that's so bad?" Usagi shot a pleading look to Makoto and the brunette sheepishly rose and joined in the embrace. "Tell me, Setsuna."

"I've misjudged a threat and now Crystal Tokyo won't exist."

Usagi bit her lip, wondering if now was the right time to tell Setsuna that she would never marry Mamoru and as a result there would be no Crystal Tokyo, at least the way Setsuna envisioned it, perhaps a grand dynasty but certainly no King Endymion. It probably wasn't the time...yet. But it would come down to it soon.

"Don't worry, Setsuna-chan. No matter what you think you did I'm sure it wasn't your fault. You can't take so much responsibility for the future, you can't see all the different choices and actions we make everyday. It's not your fault at all." She rocked the Time Senshi and felt her sobs ebb. "None of us are going to get angry or hold anything against you. Nothing you could do would break our trust in you."

Makoto seconded her Queen and slowly Setsuna rose back to her feet. It didn't look right, seeing the calm and collected Setsuna Meiou weeping and falling apart. Usagi and Makoto helped her into the bedroom and tucked her under the covers. Makoto was kind enough to prop the shattered remains of the door back into the frame.

Once they were sure Setsuna was asleep, Usagi nodded to her friend and the brunette closed the suite doors. No sooner had the door closed than Usagi's communicator went off.

"Hello?"

"We're all ready here, Odango-atama." Rei's face obscured the rest of the group standing patiently behind her.

"Okay, Rei-chan, just hold on a minute." The blonde terminated the call and dialed Luna. "Luna, are you and Artemis ready?"

The cat appeared on screen in the middle of pushing Artemis out of the frame. "I told you I'd handle this! We're all set here, Usagi-chan. Ready when you are."

Makoto coughed lightly into her hand and silently reminded her friend about the Emperor's allergy.

"Luna, you and Artemis will have to transform into human forms before I teleport you, okay?" The cat frowned. "The Emperor is extremely allergic to cats, alright? I don't think we want to be the cause of an allergy attack in his own palace, do we?"

The cat sighed and shifted into her human form. "I suppose not. Just let us get clothes on and we'll be ready."

Usagi smiled. "Okay, Luna!" She shut off the communicator and dialed Ami's frequency. "Are you ready, Ami-chan?"

The shorthaired woman was packed into a train toilet with three bags and her laptop computer. "All ready, Usagi."

The blonde deactivated her communicator and motioned for Makoto to step back. Fishing in her pocket, she raised the ginzuishou above her head and screamed 'Moon Eternal power, Make-up!'

The transformation took less time than it had during their school days, probably a side effect of her aging process, but she was still stripped nude in a blaze of sparkles before the ribbons of energy formed her Senshi uniform. She was about to say 'in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!' but refrained at the last moment. Somehow it seemed childish and stupid to her older ears. In that sense at least, they had all outgrown being Senshi, now they just wanted to be normal people. Still, it gave her a rush to feel the tight uniform cling to her curves and sense the hum of power from her pendant. She turned to her friend and noticed that even she was giggling softly into her hand.

"I'm sorry, Usagi-chan, but something about it is just funny. Women our age dressing up in fuku and bashing demons with sugary-pink hearts - something about those days just seems so...ridiculous."

Usagi frowned. She hadn't realized that everyone had become as disillusioned as she but she wasn't entirely sure it was for the best or worst. "Laugh it up, Mako-chan, someday you're going to have to transform again and never change back!"

That shut the brunette's mouth. "I promise I'll never laugh at it again." Her face had gone pale.

"Good." The future Neo-Queen Serenity pulled her scepter from pocket space and spun it between her fingers. "Sailor Teleport!"

There was a blinding flash of light in the middle of the cleared room accompanied by the harsh smell of ozone. Makoto stepped back involuntarily and covered her nose, unused to the smell after such a long time. There was a sound like a 'pop' and reality shifted in the middle of the scintillating conflagration. It was over in seconds and the Senshi were gathered together again. Usagi sighed in relief before powering down.

"Rei, Minako, Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, Ami, welcome to the Imperial Palace."

---Might be Continued---


	2. Incomplete

Author's Notes:

Some notes on timeline:

1984 – Ranma ½ takes place (Ranma and co. around 16)

1989 – Usagi Tsukino becomes Sailor Moon (Senshi and co. around 14)

1990 – The Thirty Days of Fire (Senshi off-world fighting Galaxia)

2000 – Our story takes place (Year Ten of the Araiheiji Period)

A Continuation Gone Too Far

Continued

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

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The main banquet hall sat beside and connected to the seven-level executive tower in the centre of the palace, a massive, sprawling structure of one high-ceilinged room with various ancillary off-shoots for restrooms and meetings. The quadruple hangar doors were closed against swirling gusts of snow and the mean chill of night. The lights and noise of the royal banquet, however, blared through the clarion-clear crisp air for miles around. Sixteen soldiers hand-picked from the Emperor's personal army stood proudly at the entrances and exits bundled in micromesh parkas and helmets. A steady line of people walked back and forth down the covered walkway connecting the common area of the palace with the triple-A personal apartments of Emperor Ranma Saotome.

One woman in particular stood out from the crowd hurriedly scurrying in the cold corridor to the banquet. She stood a foot taller than most at an impressive six feet and moved with casual grace and deliberate poise. A dark indigo kimono hugged her taut, athletic body, beneath a heavily padded matching long coat. A black fur wrap draped around her supple neck and swayed in time with her generous hips. Her unruly black hair remained in place with the aid of gold dragon pins coiled tightly in a bun. The guards at the door immediately recognized the woman and snapped to attention.

The chamberlain, a portly noble with a pleasing mien and silver hair; stepped out from behind the doors at the soldier's crisp salute.

"So good to see you once again, madam, I shall announce you immediately."

"Enough with the pleasantries, Koga, where is the Emperor?" Her voice boomed with a sultry baritone tinged ever so slightly with irritation. Her deep purple eyes flashed across the collection of nobles milling about the front of the room.

"I believe he is attending to an urgent matter of state at the moment, madam, in one of the private rooms."

She snorted. "Which bimbo is it this time? Certainly not Nabiki, given that this is a state dinner, and not Kasumi for the same reasons. Akane?" A steward stepped forward and took her coat and wrap.

It was a credit to Chamberlain Yusuke Koga's breeding and manners that he did not even wince at the sharp accusatory tone in the woman's voice. But then again, she did have a mercurial temper. "I believe it was a tall dark-haired woman not unlike yourself with a younger girl possibly around twelve."

The woman's right eye twitched dangerously and if one looked they might've seen her hands clenching into white-knuckled fists at her sides before a forced smile split her dark purple lips. "I see. Thank you, Koga, you may announce me now."

While the Chamberlain declared his newest guest, the Emperor himself was in a rather sticky situation…at least in his eyes.

"I just wish that you have discussed this with me beforehand, Ranma-sama." Kasumi was seated to his right at a square low table, the left occupied by a stately woman with a willowy figure and thick, long black hair tied with a white ribbon at the nape of her neck. The traditional paper doors behind Ranma were open and two children and a white wolf played happily in the deepening snow.

"I realize that you don't agree with this, Kasumi, but I'm just asking you to think about it." I reached across the table and set his white-gloved hand atop her place digits. "Believe me, the last thing I want to become is my father with all that arranged marriage crap but this is the easiest way to satisfy our honor."

"I'm afraid Ranma is quite right, Tendo-san, although the agreement was fulfilled by my mother we cannot reveal it for reasons I'm sure you understand quite well." The dark-haired woman adjusted the front of her white hakama and took her thin porcelain teacup from the table. Slitted eyes glanced out at the yard. "Come back inside now, Motoko-chan, and have some tea! I don't want you to catch cold. Drag Hiroshi inside with you!"

"I understand that, Aoyama-san, and I do not have any reservations regarding a joining of our houses, I just wish that someone would have told me before tonight." Kasumi, so long the surrogate mother for her sisters, had developed an almost unhealthy protectiveness for her only child – one that Ranma hoped would fade with her duties as Minister of Cultural Affairs. "I understand better than most the debt Ranma and I owe you and your clan."

Ranma poured two cups of tea absently while his mistress spoke and threw them behind his back at the two children with no warning. Only their highly trained early warning senses saved them from scalding water in their faces. Motoko caught hers gingerly while Hiroshi grabbed his from the air with nary a glance. He was used to Uncle Ranma's strange notions of training.

"Does the Emperor usually do things like that?" Motoko Aoyama asked carefully as the two stepped back onto the wood deck outside the meeting room.

"Oh yeah, all the time, Motoko-chan, Uncle Ranma thinks that everything is training in one way or another. He throws plates, glasses, books, dressers, lamps, grenades, just to see if you're paying attention to your surroundings."

The younger Aoyama sweat dropped at that and silently amended her personal misgivings about helping her aneue demonstrate the Demon-Cutting Shinmei-Ryu strike.

"Cookie, Motoko-chan?" Hiroshi sat down at the edge of the deck so the warm air from the inside blasted against his back and produced a shallow brown bowl of sembei crackers. The white wolf had already jumped back inside the building and curled up with its muzzle resting on Ranma's lap.

"Thank you, Ono-san." Motoko took a large cracker glazed with sugar and sipped lightly at her tea. Truth be told she hadn't understood why aneue wanted her to come to the Royal Banquet this year, she usually went alone, but it was a thrill to meet the Emperor in person and place a face to the heroic stories her mother and sister told of the Thirty Days of Fire. Also, the Emperor's nephew seemed like a nice boy – unlike the boys she'd met at school who all seemed to be perverts.

"Then it's settled. We will wait for the two to come of age and see where things go from there. I'm not sure about this whole genetics thing but Dr. Akagi assures me that no genetic defects will occur if they produce an heir." Ranma patted the wolf's head and gave her a cracker while the two women sipped tea. "I don't want to force them together like some people I knew, I just want to see where things lead and if they decided not to join the clans I'll figure something else out. Agreed?"

"That sounds agreeable to me, Ranma-dono," Tsuruko nodded and finished her tea, "is this acceptable to you Tendo-san?"

"That sounds very good. I do hate the thought of pushing the two together. That type of matchmaking seldom ends well."

"I can vouch for that." Ranma finished his tea and poured another cup for all three. "So, can I expect you and Motoko to join us for the shrine visit this year?"

Tsuruko Aoyama let a smirk toy at the edges of her serene face. She usually left after the banquet since she didn't particularly care for the pomp and raucous festivities following the aristocracy to the sleepy valley in Okayama. Although, frankly speaking, she didn't like going simply because the location brought back bad memories of the Thirty Day War. But, with her little sister along for the trip perhaps she could make an exception. "Would you like to go with Uncle Ranma to the shrine, Motoko-chan?"

Motoko jerked around quickly, her normally serious face wide with equal parts surprise and excitement. "Will I be able to see the kami?"

Ranma chuckled deep in his throat. "Oh, I think we can arrange that for you, Motoko-chan. It's decided then, you and Motoko will accompany us to Okayama tomorrow." He stood and the two women quickly took to their feet. "If you ladies will excuse me I have another pressing meeting."

With that he stepped down into the rapidly deepening snow followed by his pet wolf. He hadn't walked five feet around the enclosed perimeter before a presence dropped to the ground behind him. The wolf flipped around with a low growl and a blazing whirl of celestial fire erupted on its back. Red symbols and glyphs burned their way across its fur as the guardian went to battle mode.

"Attacking me is a bad idea, Kodachi. Especially since Terra's in heat."

"You're no fun anymore, Ranma-sama, we hardly ever 'play' together nowadays." Kodachi Kuno straightened her dark indigo kimono and plucked the golden dragon hairpins out, letting her black locks falling to the small of her back. "Koga told me you were in a meeting. Who was it this time?"

"Nothing like that, 'Dachi-chan. Tsuruko Aoyama and her sister Motoko came to pay their respects. They will be joining us for the shrine visit this year." He stroked Terra's head and ears, causing the white wolf to sit down and the spinning wheel of fire atop her back to extinguish. "I trust you will be civil?"

"Of course, Ranma-sama, of that you can be assured. It strikes me as just a little odd, however, that Tsuruko-san would make this year the first trip she makes to the shrine."

The years had been kind to Kodachi Kuno, like they had been to most of the Nerima Wreaking Crew. Although two broken arms incurred during the first week of the Thirty Days War kept her from the frontlines at the climactic Battle of Tokyo her expertise in potion-making and salves saved more lives than the tardy Red Cross when they arrived a full two weeks after the battle. She was hailed a hero and awarded several distinctions, not the least of which was the restoration of the Noble Samurai House of Kuno in remembrance of Tatewaki's heroic sacrifice before the old Imperial Palace.

Now she owned and operated a thriving cosmetics firm with ties to Nippon-Tech and branch offices in America, France, Russia, and China. She even had a husband, some poor sucker that knocked her up after a drunken celebration party in Paris. But her passion for Ranma had not abated with the passage of years. With her son undergoing education at the national military academy she had plenty of time to renew old acquaintances with her teenage crush.

"Have you been listening, Ranma-sama?"

"Hmm? Yes, sorry, 'Dachi-chan, just remembering something important." Ranma scratched Terra between the ears and playfully rubbed her slightly grey bib. "You know that Tsuruko doesn't like the spectacle and praise. She can't forget what we all lost in Tokyo."

"She certainly seems to when she's with you." Kodachi twirled her hairpins and turned back to the lit meeting room. Kasumi, Tsuruko, Hiroshi, and Motoko were still sitting and talking. "Come now, Ranma, you can't think that your preference for the Shinmei-Ryu school has gone unnoticed. The tabloids still bring out that photo of you and Tsuruko in mid-coitus from two years ago. Thank the gods they don't realize it's you in the photo."

"Well, if that's it, I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow morning for the trip." Ranma stepped forward and embraced the firm woman, feeling her melt in his arms. She was standoffish, pushy, and more than a little conceited but by the gods she was his friend who'd stood beside him at the mouth of Hell itself. Anything he could do to repay that debt he would do with no exceptions. Suddenly she stiffened against his chest.

"Your little fuck-toy is watching us, Ranma-sama."

"Who's calling who a fuck-toy, over-perfumed bitch?" Akane leapt down from a leafless branch overlooking the walking garden in a forward stance, fingers tightened into claws. "Just make a move…"

"Now just calm down, you two. I don't want you two fighting tonight. Kodachi, I'll see you tomorrow." He released the black-haired woman and grabbed Akane's arm in an almost painful grip as he lead them back towards his personal residence.

"Why did you stop me, Ranma, the bitch had it coming!" Akane's brow drew down to the bridge of her nose and her hands clenched. "All right, I suppose I overacted but you know the way she speaks about me!"

"And are you saying that what she says is wrong?" Ranma gestured to the guards as they passed through a security checkpoint into the bottom floor of the tower. "Are any of the allegations she's making false?"

She stiffened and remained silent for the elevator ride up to the third floor. She could feel the metallic grip on her arm subside as they neared their destination; by the time the doors slid open they both were smiling again. Deep down she knew he favored her above all the others save the Goddess herself. He had to - it was the only explanation for his behavior for his loyalty all the long years since the final battle. And so she gave it back in kind, accepting her role and abiding by his wishes. The main dining hall was lit by diffuse runners at the union between walls and ceiling, casting the room into intimate shadows.

Setsuna and Makoto stood as soon as the doors opened and both bowed low as the Emperor strode inside with a pretty blue-haired woman on his arm. Usagi, Minako, Rei, Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, Ami, Artemis, and Luna all followed but were stunned as the Emperor bowed equally low back to them.

"My greatest and most sincere thanks for the duty you girls have done for this country and no doubt the world. Without your efforts in eradicating the youma threat in Juuban and Tokyo in general – we might not be standing here right now." Ranma saw Akane to one of the empty cushions and took his place at the head of the table. Usagi was the first to reply.

"And the same to you, your imperial majesty for your efforts in waging war against the Eastern threat and providing Japan a future as bright and illustrious as its ruler." Clearly the hours spend listening to Luna about court politics and etiquette was of some use. "If I may introduce myself once again, I am Usagi Tsukino, and this is Ami Mizuno, Minako Aino, Haruka Tenou, Michiru Kairo, Hotaru Tomoe, Luna Lunarian, and Artemis Venusian." She smiled to herself and sat back down.

"Now that all the courtesies are out of the way, let's have some food and get to know one another!" Ranma motioned to the door and a line of servers brought steaming silver platters of food out to the seated parties. "And since two of your numbers are already coming with me and my family to the shrine tomorrow I extend an invitation to all of you. We leave tomorrow morning at ten."

"Your highness, your guest…?" Setsuna glared balefully at the young-looking man and jerked her head in the direction of Akane. "I don't think she's been introduced."

Ranma stopped with a spicy battered shrimp an inch from his mouth and set his chopsticks down. "Forgive me, Sailor Senshi. This is my close friend Akane Tendo who fought with me during the Thirty Days of Fire."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." And with that the blue-haired woman resumed eating. The Senshi, ignorant of how the woman normally acted simply shrugged and continued their conversation.

In the main banquet hall the party was still in full swing with a classic full-size big band playing favorites from the fifties and sixties. Nabiki sipped from a flute of champagne and made small talk with the President of South Korea while her husband spilled wine down his pants and fell unconscious into a plush club chair in the corner of the room. All the big names were there from the entire Diet to the children and families of the Diet of 1990, invited to honor those who sacrificed their lives for the defense of the country one decade past.

"Prime Minister, if I may have a word?" She turned and saw a chest full of medals below a neatly-trimmed goatee and moustache.

"I'm sorry madam President but I have to speak with this gentleman. Please enjoy the rest of the party." She bid the elder stateswoman goodbye and let the man lead her down a darkened hall to the meeting rooms. Neither spoke a word as he slid a security card through a level-B reader and ushered her inside the conference room. The two men waiting for her were a surprise.

"If this is your idea of a joke Ryu, you're going to be demoted down to desk sergeant after the holiday." Nabiki eyed the stoic-looking scion of the Kumon family and, only seeing brittle seriousness, sat down at the head of the table. "So what's the problem? Nothing serious, I hope?" She tittered nervously at her own joke.

"We aren't sure, Nabiki. We've detected a…anomaly in the Middle East just on the border of India in what used to be Pakistan." Ryu Kumon inserted a secure flash drive into a socket in the wall behind her. A high-definition laser projector descended from a hidden pocket on the ceiling and burst to life. "We aren't sure what it is, only that it doesn't seem natural."

"A volcanic eruption perhaps? A heat storm caused by the odd weather patterns?"

"Negative, ma'am." She hated when he called her 'ma'am' it made her feel so old, but he was a military man now and a certain amount of decorum was expected. Even if he'd fought by her side in the war…

"What about experimentation? The Afghans were talking about testing their nuclear capabilities…"

"Unfortunately that too has been ruled out. I sent Mousse here and Mint to investigate the strange readings but it is moving changing location randomly and we can't pinpoint exactly where it'll show up next." Ryu nodded to the two men who walked across to flank the holographic projection.

Mousse and Mint were special envoys of the Japanese Government with special clearance by the God-Emperor himself to act in his name. Mousse, wearing contact lenses and a black suit and tie, had gained more than a few scars wandering the chaotic areas between Japanese-governed Chinese lands and the Middle East. Mint, on the other hand, acted as a special liaison to Emperor Herb of The Middle Kingdom who ruled what used to be the Bayankala Mountain range and outlying areas. They frequently collaborated together both on and off the battlefields – rumor had it that the two were lovers. Nabiki didn't put much stock in rumor nowadays but she confirmed it through a series of wire-taps and traceless bugs planted in their rooms. It never hurt to know more than they thought you did.

"The high-energy spike was first believed to be underground but no trace of it could be found when I arrived at the scene. Satellite imaging shows that it faded when I penetrated a 50 kilometer perimeter of the centre or area of highest reading. No sooner had it faded completely than it reappeared in the South China Sea." Mousse pointed to a red dot over what used to be Pakistan then 'drew' a red laser line to the ocean. "My sources in Micronesia report no usual occurrences in the area."

Mint 'drew' a large circle around the energy flare and enlarged the area. "At this point Mousse contacted Prince Herb's government and I was told to investigate. The spike disappeared as I proceeded by boat from the south coast. It then reappeared in Tibet, although much more focused, then in India over the ruins of Calcutta before disappearing completely."

Nabiki sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers over her lips, tapping her index digits together in thought. "I presume you haven't told the Emperor about this phenomenon yet?"

"Not as of yet, Minister, we – I believed that it should be brought before you first since we don't actually know what this is yet. There are no signs of it being hostile and no eyewitnesses to any strange lights or heat. For all intents and purposes it doesn't exist as energy as we understand it except for this orbital energy spike."

"Good, we don't want to worry the man unnecessarily. I'll brief him on this after the holiday unless something else happens during the next few weeks." Nabiki stood up and pushed her chair back in before adjusting her suit coat. "Keep me in the loop, General Kumon; notify me immediately if it reappears. Agents Mousse and Mint, you may rejoin the party. I have a few personal words to have with the General."

The two g-men walked out the door, a blazing door of white light pouring into the darkened room before it closed and her eyes readjusted to the gloom.

"The Emperor will not know of this until we have solid evidence that it is worth wasting his time, is that understood?"

"That's very clear, ma'am."

"Good."

Mamoru Chiba was bored. Very bored and very horny. His eyes gazed lustily after the young women flitting back and forth from the buffet table, gliding easily along the soft curves of their buttocks and breasts. Despite having a rubdown at a Soapland and a quickie in an alley with a high school kogal he still wanted more pussy and this time he wanted quality.

"Mamoru Chiba, I thought that was you." He turned from the punchbowl and saw an unpleasant surprise. The big-titted blonde from the airplane. Shit, what was her name again? He couldn't remember. Best to play the ignorance card, foreigners always thought every Asian was the same anyway…

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" The words fell like ash from his mouth. He'd lost it now he already saw the fires rising in the woman's eyes and her massive tits jiggled with corked fury. "You were…ah…Maris? From the plane?"

"Mallik, Allison Mallik, you were screwing my brains out less than three hours ago?" She slammed her champagne flute on the buffet table. "I thought I'd made more of an impression than that…"

"Er…yeah, I guess you did. Why are you here, anyway, this reception is for press and dignitaries only."

"Oh, I didn't mention that my father was the British Ambassador? How silly of me." She tittered annoyingly, enjoying the nervous tic in Mamoru's eye. "Where is the Emperor? My father assured me that I would be able to meet him tonight."

"His Imperial Highness, Emperor of Nippon and her outlying territories, God-Slayer, Blessed of the Kami, Ruler of the Sun Throne, Ranma Saotome and escorts!" Chamberlain Koga announced from the main entrance. Allison made a trilling murmur of excitement and dashed to the pressing throng of people eager to see his august majesty. Mamoru discarded his punch cup and sauntered behind the English woman, wondering just what the big deal was.

With the official secrets act in place the press couldn't even take pictures what kind of story could he possibly send back to his editors?

Ranma strode into the room with the Senshi in tow and Akane on his arm. A round of applause began from the back of the room and soon the hall rang with it, causing him to blush and scratch the back of his head nervously. Setsuna looked solemnly on, knowing that tomorrow the tabloids would be full of rumors about Usagi and Minako and the Emperor in all the various combinations possible and some that weren't. The only saving grace was that they couldn't take pictures, so as long as the blondes kept their mouths shut the palace would have plausible deniability of any dalliance between the Emperor and two beautiful actress/models. Ranma raised a hand for silence and the room quickly stilled.

"It has been ten years since the Battle of Tokyo and I'm sure all of you still remember our country burning. Although you bestow upon me credit for the eradication of the threat and the time of peace we now enjoy there were many who participated in my army only some of whom are still alive to tell of their bravery. Join me as I applaud and congratulate the survivors of The Imperial Army of the Wild Horse!" He began clapping himself and the crowd enthusiastically followed, ignoring the smirks on Nabiki and Ryu Kumon's faces and the quiet sorrow of Tsuruko and Kasumi. Akane stood motionless with stormy emotions clouding her expression until disengaging from Ranma's arm and walking quietly back to the elevator.

"To those who have fallen!" Ryu let out a roar from the back of the banquet hall.

"To those who have fallen! May their spirits continue to protect our country!" Nabiki raised her glass of champagne.

"To the fallen! Their names will never be forgotten!" Mousse entered the hall holding Mint's hand.

Ranma bit back the bile in the back of his throat and grinned sickly. "To the fallen! May Nippon's light never dim through the long centuries of darkness!"

Setsuna smirked as the Emperor used her eloquent suggestion for a new quotable quote. Since the public never really saw their Emperor (it had been decided by Nabiki and herself that the god-like image would be increased by infrequent appearances) the government needed a solid stable of quotes newspapers and TV could use attributed to the God-Emperor. He made only one public appearance on TV each year and even that was given from behind a colored screen. So far it was working; recent polls indicated a 30% increase in belief that the Emperor was descended from the Kami. Not bad considering he was not in direct succession within the Imperial family.

"Do we have to stand here in front of everyone?" Hotaru's remark stirred the rest of the Senshi from their thoughts regarding the Emperor. "I don't like the idea of all these people staring at us. They don't even know who we are."

"I'm used to it! Strangers love to stare at the things they can't have – it's called 'window shopping', Hotaru-chan." Minako struck a pose with her arms wrapped possessively around the Emperor's mid-section. "Oh, pooh, there aren't any cameras here."

"Don't let Minako's exhibitionism soil you," Haruka wisely moved her surrogate daughter away from the flirty blonde, "we'll be out of here as soon as we can."

Setsuna tapped the bishounen on the shoulder while Ranma mingled a bit with Minako still curled around his arm. "I'm afraid we're all here for the remainder of the holidays. The Emperor has invited you all to stay for the duration and visit the shrine with him tomorrow."

"Oh my, I'll have to call my parents and let them know we won't be visiting this year." Michiru ran a hand through her aquamarine tresses. "Still, this is the Emperor we're talking about, we should feel honored."

"I don't like him. He is the ruler of a single insignificant country on a solitary planet. Usagi will be the Queen of the entire solar system. He's a flash in the pan." Luna sniffed disdainfully to Artemis. "I also do not appreciate the way he ogles Usagi-chan. Does he just expect every woman in the world to melt at his touch?"

"Seems like a nice enough guy. Snappy dresser, good hygiene, lots of money – seems like the perfect catch to me."

"Sometimes Artemis, I wonder whether you're gay."

Usagi's thoughts on the subject of the Emperor went unsaid as she froze-up when the crowd parted. He was there. He was there. He was there and a big-titted blonde bimbo was stroking herself against his body. She recognized the debonair attitude and haughty posture. After ten long years he comes waltzing back into her life and she felt…nothing. The love that had helped her defeat Metallia and Wiseman and Mistress 9 and Galaxia just wasn't there anymore. She felt a hollow dark emptiness full of seething betrayal in her heart. Their eyes met, so she knew he saw here as well, and she looked away. There was no proof of his infidelity but none was needed. He hadn't searched her down and shown-up at the doorstep with roses or half-a-dozen other ridiculously cheesy romantic gestures; no, he met her by accident.

The guardian of Time glanced at the star-crossed couple's exchange and shook her head sadly. It was the Saotome charm, just one more thing she could look forward to kicking Ranma's ass about after the Great Freeze.

"Usagi-hime. I think we should be heading towards the exit now. Hime-sama?" The emerald-haired woman had just enough time to catch her queen as the blonde fainted in her arms. She quickly motioned to Makoto who pushed past a group of Diet members from her place beside Nabiki. Ranma didn't notice the scuffle for Usagi's safety since his back was turned and he was conversing with the foreign secretary from the Middle Kingdom. Setsuna cursed under her breath and dragged Usagi with the other's help into the elevator off the main foyer. From there they ascended to the VIP wing.

"Oh my, it looks like the Emperor's new bed warmer had a little too much excitement – don't you think, Chiba-san?" Allison giggled a bit and took a fresh glass of bubbly from a passing waiter. "Chiba-san? Mamoru?"

She was there and she turned away. That colossal bitch dared to turn away from the Prince of Earth? He was destined to be her consort, he was destined to become Neo-Endymion, it was him! She had to accept him, she had to love him, and there was no choice! It was pre-determined! She was his and he wouldn't have her looking down at him with that sickeningly disappointed expression on her insipid, vapid face! How dare she!? Mamoru Chiba seethed with anger and hastily swung his hand back to ward off the stupid gaijin cunt that'd adhered herself to him, said blow hit her arm and splashed the fresh glass of imported French champagne down her generous cleavage. Surprised by the assault she fell backwards and would have hit the floor were it not for the Emperor's intervention.

"Careful there, miss, wouldn't want your gorgeous body to bruise now, would we?" If the years had taught Ranma anything it was being smooth with the opposite sex. After seeing death and dispensing it freely he'd often wondered why sex had always flustered him. It was natural, far more natural than disemboweling a man and lopping his head off as his warm body fell forward from the increased weight spilling out of his front. No, sex was easy after that and he'd found he was good at it as he was in all things save modesty. "Having a row with your beau, my dear?"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, oh no, your highness, this is just an acquaintance. I don't exactly know why he knocked me over, though." Allison spat with no small amount of venom lacing her words. "Thank you for saving me. I am Allison Mallik, daughter to-"

"Artie Mallik the Ambassador from England. He told me you'd be coming tonight. Where is the old bastard? He's played more tricks on me this past year than all the other ambassadors combined. Just because I'm a little slow doesn't mean he can take advantage."

"Well, your highness, judging by your saving me I don't think anyone will call you 'slow'." The Emperor lifted her clear off her feet and back on her heels. She felt his hand on her left buttock squeeze lightly and his arms pull her closer against his body. Her head was suddenly filled with cotton – all she could do was hold onto his arm and hope her legs were steadier than they felt.

---Incomplete---

Looking for pre-readers...


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